Brian Caffarey - 28th September 2009

The Cards will be hoping to put Saturday’s rather unconvincing performance behind them and secure an emphatic win in this FA Cup replay tomorrow evening but the task is going to be made more difficult by a horrendous injury list, which leaves Graham Baker with only 15 fit senior players. They will know too that their Kent Premier League opponents will be intent again on disrupting them with their direct, uncompromising approach, which, allied to an effective strike force, makes them a tougher proposition than might appear at first sight.

WOKING

The news from Graham is that, in addition to the two long-term absentees, Jon Boardman and Billy Hussey, five other players will definitely miss Tuesday’s game: Aswad Thomas, Nicky Nicolau, Tony Sinclair, Jamie Hand and Moses Ademola. The last two incurred their injuries on Saturday. Moses is expected to be out for three or four weeks, apparently, following the especially rough treatment he received early on at the Reachfields Stadium.

On the bright side, keeper Ross Worner will of course be back after his one-game suspension.

With so few options, the team virtually picks itself, so we can expect to see a line-up of Worner, Sintim, Hutchinson, McNerney, Sloma, Anane, Ricketts, Arter, Sole, Onibuje and Sam-Yorke, with Pegler, Watkins, Maledon and Anson Cousins on the bench.

I asked Graham if there was any scope for bringing in more players on loan but Graham says that this isn’t an option and that we’ll just have to manage for the foreseeable future with what we’ve got. Nor is there an option of bringing Charlie Moone back earlier from his loan spell at Walton and Hersham.

Graham confirmed, finally, that Luke Medley’s departure was for disciplinary reasons: “There was a disciplinary issue which had to be tackled”, said Graham, “and I came to the conclusion that the best outcome was for Luke to return to Barnet.”

HYTHE TOWN

As expected, Hythe looked a pretty solid side on Saturday. Their keeper, Kieron Mann, pulled off several fine saves. At the back, the uncompromising Gavin Ransley and colleagues tackled strongly and, up front, the rumbustious Kieran Byrne and Pat Kingwell, well supported by Lee Winfield and Dave Cook, looked for much of the game to have more penetration than their Cards counterparts.

Hythe’s Manager, Scott Porter, banished from the bench on Saturday, spoke to Kentish Football (www.kentishfootball.co.uk) about Saturday’s game and what he expects on Tuesday evening:

“It’s going to be a totally different game,” warned Porter. “They’re going to be on their own patch, their own crowd, lovely surface and their manager is going to be bang up for it.

“He was giving them an absolute rollicking at half-time and after the game. They didn’t even come upstairs for a drink so that shows how professional they really are.

“We’ll just prepare for it as normal, turn up on the day and hopefully try and finish the job, but it’s going to be an uphill task as soon as we get there.

“But we’ll go there, we didn’t think we’d get this far, and enjoy it, that’s all we can do. The boys have been absolutely fantastic and it’s another big day for the club.”

The key for Hythe at Kingfield Stadium is to silence the home crowd - and Porter is confident his side can do exactly that.

“They were frustrated for 71 minutes, you didn’t hear them until they scored and they brought a fair few with them,” he said.

“It’s going to be tough up there, of course we all know that and that was our day yesterday. We’ll go there on Tuesday and give it our best shot like we did yesterday.”

Hythe Town was formed in 1910 and gained senior status in 1975, joining the Kent League. They had a high profile in the late 80s/early 90s when a property developer took over and pumped some money in, with the club joining the Southern League. The club went into liquidation in 1992 but was re-formed, regaining its Kent League status three years later. The club has been doing very nicely in recent years, knocking out Dover in the FA Cup two years ago and regularly challenging for the Kent League Premier Division title.

The Reds achieved their best-ever placing last season, finishing runners-up in the Kent League after leading the pack for much of the campaign. This season they have started well, their disappointing 2-1 home defeat at the hands of rivals Faversham Town on 19 September being their first reverse of the campaign.

Strikers Kieran Byrne and Pat Kingwell have both started the season in impressive form, netting 9 goals each, including the latter’s clinical finish on Saturday. Dave Cook has netted four goals.

Our matchday programme on Tuesday night includes Graham’s reflections on Saturday’s game, a look back at a Cards’ win at the same stage of the Cup some 20 years ago, a survey of Woking’s recent FA Cup history and an update on the reserves and Academy. Great value at only £1.50.